Knapsacks are usually made of a number of panels of fabric material stitched together to define a compartment receivable of articles and a zipper stitched to the fabric panels to enable access to the compartment. Thin, bendable plastic material is also often used instead of fabric. Knapsacks made solely of fabric or thin plastic material do not provide any rigidity to the knapsack, which lack of rigidity may result in damage to articles carried in the compartment thereof.
In the prior art, there are hiking or camping backpacks which include an assembly of hollow pipes forming a grid over which fabric panels are stretched. Although such backpacks provide some overall rigidity and likely prevent some articles contained therein from being damaged, the presence of the fabric panels extending between the pipes does not prevent all damage as an object may impact the backpack in an area of such a panel.
In order to distinguish one knapsack from another, and to increase the allure of a particular knapsack, the front panel of the knapsack, i.e., that panel facing outward away from the person wearing the knapsack, is often decorated with a distinctive design, e.g., with popular children's characters, a motif from movies or sports motifs.